Submitted by BCH

Massachusetts Grand Officers of the Knights Templar Eye Foundation traveled to Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School to present a $65,000 Career Starter grant to Emily Wiecek, OD, PhD, Optometrist and Researcher in the Ophthalmology Department. Dr. Wiecek will be focusing her research on discovering the difference between amblyopia caused by poor focus and amblyopia caused by misalignment of the two eyes.

Dr. Wiecek's study, "Peripheral Visual Function in Anisometropic and Strabismic Amblyopia," will test three measures of visual function in patients in the two basic types of amblyopia and in healthy volunteers. The measures to be tested include contrast sensitivity (like vision on a foggy day), stereoacuity (3-D vision or depth perception), and ocular dominance (which eye is favored by the brain), using peripheral as well as central vision. The hope is to discover that the two types of amblyopia have important differences in their responses and that this will one day allow us to customize treatment in each type of amblyopia.

Emily Wiecek, a South End resident, was appointed as Harvard Ophthalmology Instructor in late 2018. She is a pediatric optometrist with a background in clinically-based psychophysical assessment. Her research aims to improve the assessment and quantification of binocular and accommodative function in pediatric and adolescent patients.

The Knights Templar is a Masonic fraternal organization founded in the 11th century. Originally, they were laymen who protected and defended Christians travelling to Jerusalem, and were renowned for their fierceness and courage. Today, the Knights display their courage and goodwill in other ways, raising millions of dollars for medical research and educational assistance. The Knights Templar Eye Foundation, Inc. is a charity sponsored by the (US) Grand Encampment of Knights Templar and founded in 1956. Its mission is "To improve vision through research education, and supporting access to care."

Each year the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, Inc. invites eligible investigators to submit applications for pediatric ophthalmology research grants. Clinical and basic research on conditions that may be potentially preventable or correctable is encouraged. Career-Starter Research Grant recipients must be at the beginning of their academic careers and must have received M.D., Ph.D., or an equivalent degree.

Boston Children's Hospital is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, one of the largest academic pediatric facilities in the world, and home to the world's largest and most active research enterprise at a pediatric center. The Department of Ophthalmology at Boston Children's Hospital is the largest pediatric ophthalmology service in the world.

For more information about Boston Children's Hospital Ophthalmology Dept, please visit http://www.childrenshospital.org/centers-and-services/departments-and-divisions/department-of-ophthalmology/overview